Sascha Ruppert-Karakas

I'm very pleased to announce that my dissertation, 'The Politics of Antagonism: On the Dynamics of Authoritarian Social Space in Assad's Syria' (GER), has now been published by @DunckerHumblot . The book can be ordered via this link: duncker-humblot.de/buch/die-polit… #Syria

Syrian MP/former head of Ahrar al-Sham's politburo opposes intervention against Hezbollah in Lebanon syriaintransition.com/en/home/opinio…

Op-ed of mine for (the excellent) @SyriaTransition, on the PYD's trajectory and its relationship to Kurdish nationalism syriaintransition.com/en/home/opinio…

في العنف وأهله، لدينا وفي العالم مقالتي في الجمهورية اليوم

العنف لا يملك تبريره في ذاته. ولأنه كذلك، فإنه لا يكون مُبرَّراً إلا إذا كان جزءاً من سياسة، أو أداة من أدوات سياسة تسيطر عليه وتتحكم به. أجزاء السياسة الأخرى هي الكلمات والأفكار والقواعد والمؤسسات. ويجب أن تكون قوية ومتينة حتى تستطيع التحكُّمَ بالعنف وضبطه. ✍️ياسين الحاج صالح aljumhuriya.net/?p=62944

Detailed and rather damning report here on the serious flaws in the accountability process for the coastal massacres committed a year ago newarab.com/investigations…

A British court has for the first time charged a former Regime member with crimes against humanity. The former Air Force Intelligence member, arrested in 2021, led a group involved in the crackdown on protesters in Jobar (#Damascus) in 2011. The charges include murder and torture. reuters.com/world/uk/ex-me…

What does dictatorship do to people’s inner lives? Our review of @rallaf’s chronicle examines how Assadism seeped into language, memory and conscience, taking root in social habits shaped by fear and scarcity. The book argues that Syria’s reckoning cannot stop at dismantling institutions; it must also confront what the regime made of its citizens, and what still lingers in the country’s socio-political culture today. More: syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

Sheikh @Jaberrajabii, who defected from the Iranian regime, is one of the few people to know Mojtaba Khamenei personally & spoke about him publicly. In this interview in Arabic he describes him as: * A messianic extremist who believes himself to be the mythical Khorassani figure, who would pave the way for the emergence of the Mehdi (Messiah figure in Islam). * Racist toward Arabs, unlike his father. * Extremely brutal and believes that the ends justify any means. * Corrupt & rich (confirming reports published about his assets, for example by Bloomberg bloomberg.com/news/features/…) Interview: youtu.be/BivYuF2nPtY?si…

The strongest and most solvent Syrian institution is the Sovereign Fund. The most opaque economic institution is also the Sovereign Fund. To this day, no official head has been appointed. We know nothing about the fund's operations or departments. We know nothing about its assets or its spending. We know nothing about its relationship with government ministries or the state budget. A year has passed since it began operating, and five months since its formal establishment—yet this basic information remains unavailable. Making this information public by the presidency is a political and ethical responsibility toward Syrians.

A year after the events on Syria’s coast, a judicial process with no announced results english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2026/…

Cracks emerge in Iran's leadership - reuters.com/world/middle-e…

Senior leadership ranks have been decimated, but officials and analysts say the ruling structure in Tehran remains surprisingly resilient. w @juledurg washingtonpost.com/world/2026/03/…

My contribution in Syria in Figures #17 on the governance of Sunni Islam by the new regime karamshaar.com/syria-in-figur…

Assadism as lived experience A review of Rime Allaf’s (@rallaf) book It All Started in Damascus syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

What does tyranny do to a person’s inner life? @rallaf shows Assadism as an everyday gospel—where speech is calibrated, silence learned, & judgement disciplined. My review focuses on this “regime of conscience” & why its afterlife matters for transition. syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

The men who now govern Syria did not rise through formal institutions but through kinship groups rooted in Idlib, Hama and Deir Ezzor. Those provincial loyalties, once useful tools of insurgency, have been transplanted wholesale into the state. What held together in wartime may become harder to manage in peace. More: syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

SiT’s March issue is out. Inside: ✅Why we poll: Measuring public opinion is a political necessity. ✅Autonomy under siege: Kurdish leaders face increasing polarisation at home as they attempt to hold back an emboldened Damascus. ✅Small Town Syria: Syria’s governance is marked by HTS factionalism rooted in provincial loyalties. ✅Assadism as lived experience: A review of Rime Allaf’s book It All Started in Damascus. ✅Handarat after the fall: A shattered refugee camp becomes emblematic of the Palestinian ordeal in Syria. ✅No quick fix: Oil, wheat and the limits of economic recovery in northeast Syria. ✅The demise of Conflict Studies: Who benefitted from a field tied to Western power? syriaintransition.com/en/home/archiv…

via @SyriaTransition

Criticism is rising over a system still centered on one-man rule, with little move toward institutional, legal governance. The President holds exceptional powers to legislate and shape political and legislative bodies, justified at times by the constitutional declaration and at others by practice. #Syria alaraby.co.uk/opinion/%D8%B3…